Spy-x-War Showdown
Chapter 772 - 777 Limited Effects

Chapter 772: Chapter 777 Limited Effects

Aaron, code-named "Lighthouse," initiated contact with the KGB on November 5, 1981. After a cautious period of mutual testing, the first official encounter took place on January 1, 1982.

The first batch of intelligence Aaron passed on was extremely valuable; the CIA’s spy network in Eastern Europe, which had been established for many years, was directly dismantled, and Aaron did not ask for any payment.

In July 1982, Aaron voluntarily provided intelligence to the KGB for the second time, leading to the confirmation that a high-ranking Moscow government official had leaked information to the CIA multiple times. The KGB unearthed a significant mole.

After the second encounter, Aaron’s value was undoubtedly confirmed. It was also after this meeting that the KGB offered Aaron a $50,000 reward and Yarebin personally attempted to meet with Aaron in London for the first time.

The first meeting failed, Yarebin was unable to meet Aaron.

Aaron’s third provision of intelligence to the KGB came in December 1982, when his information helped the KGB dismantle another long-operated CIA intelligence network.

It was also the third time that Aaron again offered to meet with the KGB. In the same month, Yarebin met Aaron in London, confirmed his identity, and provided him with a $100,000 reward.

To call it a reward is somewhat inaccurate; it would be more precise to call it a bonus, for Aaron had defected out of a genuine affinity for the red Soviet Union.

During the meeting, Aaron told Yarebin he needed some achievements to attain a higher position.

At that time, Aaron was serving as the Deputy Chief of the CIA’s European Division’s Intelligence Section—a position not high in rank, but hefty in power.

In the CIA’s history of defectors, Aaron did not provide the greatest quantity of intelligence, but the quality of his information was exceptionally high; every intel he transmitted was sure to deal an extremely heavy blow to the CIA. And indeed, each was an extremely heavy blow.

The difficulty of building an intelligence network needs no elaboration. It can be said that each piece of intelligence provided by Aaron had the potential to obliterate at least twenty years of American efforts in an instant.

Therefore, Aaron proved his value, and Yarebin, who had personally met with Aaron, proposed to his superiors that they spare no expense to meet all of Aaron’s demands.

During World War II, the Poles were the first to obtain the secrets of the German Enigma Machine, which they then handed over to the British. Building on what the Poles had achieved, the British fully deciphered the Enigma code. To prevent the Germans from finding out their codes had been broken, the British chose to sacrifice the city of Coventry to keep this secret.

For the Enigma Machine, for the sake of continuously obtaining German intelligence, the British were willing to let an entire city be leveled.

What, then, were the Soviets willing to do for intelligence?

The Soviets did not have to sacrifice a city, but the KGB could make sacrifices in their spy networks graver than that of a city.

The KGB gave Aaron not one but two separate intelligence networks.

Remember, these were networks.

Not just a single line, but two networks, both operated by the Soviet Union since the end of World War II up until the early eighties. Although they contained no ace spies, they had both made significant contributions to the Soviet intelligence front.

The Soviets willingly handed over their own spies to Aaron.

The cost was tremendous, the reward, exceedingly rich.

In May 1983 and February 1984, after reaping a major victory each year for two consecutive years, Aaron was promoted to Chief of the European Division’s Intelligence Section.

In June 1984, Aaron provided a list, and the KGB arrested three people based on it.

Each of the three people arrested by the KGB was worth the effort.

In January 1985, Aaron was promoted to Deputy Director of the CIA’s Middle East Division.

The fifth batch of intelligence Aaron sent allowed the KGB to reap significant rewards in the Middle East.

The sixth time, when Brian was made the scapegoat, the CIA’s Middle East Division suffered terrible losses, with their intelligence networks in several countries being devastatingly struck.

Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, Aaron had not provided intelligence to the Soviets. Still, given Aaron’s usual practice of sharing intelligence, he wouldn’t have acted if it weren’t particularly important, so this doesn’t prove whether or not Aaron had connections with Russia after the Soviet Union dissolved.

The documents from Yarebin detailed the content and timing of the intelligence Aaron gave. If they were handed over to the CIA as evidence, it certainly wouldn’t be enough. However, as long as the CIA remains a sufficiently alert and reasonably rigorous spy organization, at least they should investigate Aaron.

But the intelligence Yarebin provided wasn’t to be used like that, because too much time had passed. As long as Aaron was alert, he could entirely clear himself of suspicion. After all, accusations from the enemy surely had to be taken with several grains of salt, and given Aaron’s current status, the impact of this information was quite limited.

However, Yarebin stated right at the beginning of the document not to see Aaron as a mere double agent; it was possible that Aaron was linked to the Grey-cloaked People.

It was this very line that Yang Yi focused on.

What served as the basis for Yarebin’s suspicion of Aaron’s link with the Grey-cloaked People wasn’t mentioned in the document at all. But whether it was just speculation or Yarebin had some concrete evidence, there had to be a reason for his statement.

Therefore, Yang Yi thought it was essential to meet Yarebin again.

But for now, Yang Yi felt it was necessary to deal with Brian and Anastasia’s situation first.

Yang Yi didn’t know what Yarebin’s definition of a washed-up person was, but in his view, if Brian was considered washed up, then there weren’t many people in this world who weren’t.

Yet Yarebin was right about one thing: Brian truly only had Anastasia on his mind at the moment. It would be too heartless to put him straight into new work just after he had reunited with Anastasia.

Moreover, it seemed that Anastasia was going to join the Organization of Water, which was a bit of a problem.

Refusing her was hardly an option. Although Yang Yi didn’t know what Anastasia was thinking, it appeared she was unwilling to live a quiet life as a normal person. But Anastasia had been out of the spy game for decades; what could she do now?

Also, Anastasia’s ties with the KGB ran deep. Who knew whether her words were true or false? As the most basic requirement of a spy organization, anyone who wanted to join had to be vetted first, right?

After much consideration, Yang Yi figured it would be better to send Brian and Anastasia away first.

Letting Brian and Anastasia have their own world, regardless of whether Brian could rekindle his past romance with Anastasia, would at least give them a chance to be alone while also providing some time to buffer.

Nonetheless, Yang Yi truly doubted Brian’s ability to discern whether Anastasia was trustworthy.

It seemed like quite the tricky situation. However, the issues with Brian and Anastasia were ultimately minor ones. As long as the two were isolated for a while, that should suffice. The most important thing was to meet Yarebin, but before that, a gift needed to be sent out.